Back-to-School Tips: How Personalized Tutoring Can Ease the Transition

Adding a personal tutor to your student's academic support team can guide a student through the transition into the school year. Keep track and get ahead for the entire academic year.

Tips for a successful year

As the weather gets cooler and vacation activities become wonderful memories, students must once again prepare for the annual return to the classroom. The end of summer break can prove to be a tough transition for students and parents alike, so much so that families struggle to adjust to the new school routine year after year. It is this transition, however, that is the key to having a successful year.

With the return to school, sleep schedules and social calendars can change dramatically, and it can be hard to get back into the school routine and manage an ever advancing academic load. New subjects can prove daunting and old ones can become rusty. To top it off, no two back-to-school transitions will be the same! This is why having a back-to-school transition plan is important for student success.

One profound help to students and the families that support them is adding a personal tutor to a student's academic support team. They can guide a student through the transition into the school year, as well as open and maintain a dialogue with the student and family to keep track of and solve issues as they arise throughout the school year. This puts students ahead for the entire academic year and prepares them to be less affected by the next summer break.

understanding the challenges

Students face a variety of challenges in returning to school: the increase in academic vigor and the possibility of lost material, academic pressures to succeed, social adjustment to new settings and faces, and time management issues. All of these challenges can overlap as well, further affecting each other in negative ways.

Studies show that during the long break of the summer months, students lose some of the knowledge gained in the school year. When the new school year sets in, students, for the most part, are expected to have the knowledge that they learned the previous year already at their disposal. If you happen to be a student who lost a bit of last year’s hard earned knowledge, it can feel like playing catch up right from the start! Not only are students in this predicament receiving and studying to retain knowledge from new courses, but they are also missing some potentially vital building blocks from last year’s courses. Students run the risk of falling behind without access to proper support.

Students are under a lot of pressure to succeed. Competitive college admissions and standardized testing can be daunting and overwhelming. Maintaining good grades is just another potential stressor. When juxtaposed with the easy days of summer, this stress can be a big challenge to adjust to each year.

Upon returning to school, many students deal with entering a brand new school or school building, meeting new teachers, and meeting as many as a whole class of new fellow students. Being in a higher grade level often means new opportunities for extracurricular activities and even having a new role within the dynamics of the school building. Adjusting to these new social situations is not easy, and presents a variety of possible interpersonal issues as well as quiet struggles, which may manifest as anxiety or stress. Having conversations early and often is one of the best ways to guide a student through these trials.

Even for students with packed summers, the transition from summer to school will mean that the puzzle of proper time management becomes more complex and challenging. Issues with managing time will present complications across the board for anyone. When you don’t manage your time well you seldom have time for everything you want to do and you will often find yourself without enough time to do anything you want to do at all. Getting ahead of the transition to back to school with a thoughtful plan and some practice is the best way to ensure success.

Every student has their own special situation and so also has their own special needs. Attempting to fit one solution to every student just would not work. It is important to consider support that is tailored to the challenges that an individual student is facing.

Benefits of Personalized Tutoring

Students can get lost in the above challenges and be unable to find the help they need from their teachers, peers, or even parents. Personalized tutoring experiences can be a great addition to a student’s existing support network. Working with a one-on-one tutor and creating a personalized plan can help with any or all of the challenges a student is facing. A personal tutor can work to help with retaining older knowledge and comprehending new knowledge with subject tutoring. They can help set sights on the major milestones of an academic career and help to keep them in perspective as preparing for them begins. They can be a guide for navigating social issues by offering a patient ear and experienced advice. A tutor can also offer coaching on time management and other study skills that will help a student succeed.

Tutors can specifically work with students in sessions focused on the following areas:

1. Focused Subject Matter: Managing course work for specific subjects on a basis of need, providing the one-on-one education that may be missing from classes or forgotten from the summer, and clearing through class obstacles to turn struggles into success. Identifying subjects with which the student may need the most help before the school year begins can be important for back-to-school management.

2. Study Skills: Looking at a student’s time management, note taking, process checking, executive function, organization, and academic independence. Bolstering already strong study skills and building up those that need improvement before studying has fallen behind is an effective strategy.

3. Test Prep: Providing planning, strategy, instruction, and practice for standardized tests. Helping to ensure that goals in the future like applying to specific schools can be met with a strong plan and proper preparation instead of misplaced and unchannelled stress and anxiety.

These personalized learning solutions are tools in a toolbox for students looking to enjoy their time in school, meet their academic goals, and have more time with friends and family. An essential part of thriving academically is learning in a way that serves the student and sets them up for success; personalized tutoring services can be invaluable in these efforts.

Great tips for back to school succuss

1. Get back on the sleep schedule for school before you need the sleep.

Practicing waking and getting ready for the day in the weeks before the school year starts can make it easier to avoid issues with tiredness or tarties. This can be incremental changes to sleeping and waking times as the school year approaches so as to soften the transition to early rising. Getting ready in the morning is a lot easier without sleep stuck in your eyes!

2. Take a tour of a new school before classes start.

Taking advantage of any tours to prepare students for the turns and twists can reduce a lot of anxiety. Many schools offer students opportunities to visit the campus before the start of the year on a group or individual basis. Call the school to set up a private tour if that would benefit a student.

3. Plan for safe travel to and from campus.

Make sure any public transit stops are identified and personal transit times are figured out in advance. Identify high traffic areas, safe crosswalks, bus routines, and safety plans before the first day of school so no one is taken by surprise or stranded.

4. Bring snacks for the first day.

The changing schedule can really cramp one's usual snack or lunch time- have a treat handy to beat unexpected hunger. Try to pick something not overly smelly or loud as that may interrupt instruction time. Having a quiet snack when hunger strikes on a late lunch day can save focus and keep a rumbling stomach from interrupting class.

5. Have supplies ready for good study habits.

Prepare notebooks and folders for individual classes and have them well marked. Even decorate with stickers and fun fonts for some pizzazz. Having things well organized and clearly labeled will make things easier for the rest of the school year.

6. Utilize personal tutoring services.

Setting up a relationship for the initial back-to-school transition makes for a smooth start of the year. Waiting until issues have already started can leave a student behind while the connection is established. Having a tutor ready to troubleshoot class work at the beginning of the year stops issues before they can even start.

7. Keep communication open.

Keeping parents, teachers, and tutors updated on struggles and triumphs of the school year makes academic challenges easier for students. Regular and clear communication among the student’s academic support team is a sure way to make sure nothing is missed or forgotten.

8. Set realistic academic goals.

Working with instructors, parents, and a personal tutor to set obtainable goals is great for confidence and academic results. Keeping goals small, within-reach, and refreshing them as the academic year moves along ensures that students can complete their work with confidence and esteem.

Boundaries and Benefits

School can be a difficult time for students and the transitions back from the relative freedoms of summer can be some of the most difficult. Working one-on-one with someone experienced and knowledgeable is a great way to help students get through these challenging times. Parents who connect their students with personal tutoring have set them up for success and while you can always choose to add to your students academic success team at any time in the year, there is no time like back-to-school to truly set them up for a successful year with a personalized tutoring plan. Here is hoping that getting back-to-school is a piece of cake for you and your students this year and for years to come.

In conclusion, the back-to-school season can be a time of both excitement and anxiety for students and parents alike. Personalized tutoring offers a tailored approach that not only supports academic success but also builds confidence and eases the transition into a new school year. If you want to learn more about scheduling time with a tutor for your student, get in touch with us.

Let us help your child thrive and make this school year their best one yet!

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